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OUR iNATIOxNAL TKIALS A CAUSE FOR THANKFULNESS. 



A 



SEEMON 



PREACnED I\ THE 



SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 



CLEVELAND, 



NOVEMBER :2 8TH, 1861 



A DAY OF THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE 



BY KEY. T. H. HAWTvS, 

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH. 



CLEVELAND: 

FAIRBANKS, BENEDICT & CO., PRINTERS, HERALD OFFICE. 

18 1. 



fe^^ ' -^^ 



OUR NATIONAL TRIALS A CAUSE FOR THANKFULNESS. 



A 



SEEMOIT 



PREACHED IN THE 



SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, CLEVELAND, 



NOVEMBER 2 8TH, 1861, 



A DAY OF THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE. 



^-.^^ 



BY EEY. TTH. hawks, 

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH. 



CLEVELAND: 

FAIKBANKS, BENEDICT & CO., PRINTERS, HEBALD OFFICE. 

1861. 



OOEEESPO]:^DEI^CE. 



Cleveland, Nov. 29, 18G1. 

REV. T.H. HAWKS: 

Dear Sir: 

Having listened to your sermon yesterday 

with great pleasure, and believing its general circulation will do good, we 

respectfully request a copy of the same for publication. 

In making this request, we believe we do but express the wish of all who 

heard you. 

Respectfully yours, 

L. BENEDICT, 
S. H. MATHER, 
S. H. FOX, 
J. LEONARD, 
DAN. P. EELLS, 
D. F. ATWATER, 
L. ALCOTT, 
D. A. SHEPARD, 



S. C. AIKEN, 
W. A. OTIS, 
DUDLEY BALDWIN. 

E. F. GAYLORD, 
H. GRISWOLD, 
S. J. ANDREWS, 
B. STEDMAN, 

F. S. SLOSSON. 



Cleveland, Nov. 30, 18S1. 

Messrs. S. C. AIKEN, W. A. OTIS, DUDLEY BALDWIN and others: 
Gentlemen : 

The sermon which you ask for, is cheerfully placed at your disposal. 
Trusting that your judgment of it will be sustained, and that its publica- 
tion may " do good," 

I am, very respectfully, 

Yours, T. H. HAWKS. 



SERMON. 



Job, V : 17, 20. — Behold, happy is the mau whom God correcteth : there- 
fore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty. 

In famine He shall redeem thee from death ; and in war from the power 
of the sword. 

The word of God, in many places, teaches that the discipline 
of rebuke and chastisement is evidence of the divine favor. — 
The man whom the Almighty chasteneth is happy, because 
suffering is not designed to work his ruin, but his '' profit." 
And when the end sought has been gained, the same hand 
that maketh sore, bindeth up. He who has sent six troubles, 
yea, seven, delivers from them ; who has sent famine and 
war, redeems from death and from the power of the sword. 

The man who suffers is to be accounted happy, when his 
sufferings are corrections, and not merely judgments — divinely 
appointed means of restoring him to the right way, and not 
purely the penalty of his sins. The test by which we may 
determine whether they are corrections, or only penalty, is 
their e'ff'ect upon him. If they issue in his reformation, then 
they are signs of God's love, and he has cause for gratitude 
that they have come upon him, Happy is he, because he is 
made better by means of them. 

If these things are true of an individual, they are also true 
of nations. The evils which befall a people, may be only pen- 
alty ; or they may be both penalty and correction. For the 
sins of Judah, Jehovah sent the nation into distant captivity ; 
yet this severe punishment was reformator}'. It was designed 
to be so, and it was so. But the time came for God to plead 
their cause, and to inflict judgment on their foes. And this 
was judgment 07ily. There was no redemption for their proud 



6 

Chaldean oppressors. If the calamities that come upon a 
nation, do only work its purification — if its rulers and people 
are thereby made to see their sins and to forsake them, then 
ought they to be called happy, even while they sufier. For 
God still loves them, and is seeking their salvation from 
greater evils, which would be the just recompense of contin- 
uance in sin. Then, too, he will bring deliverance from their 
troubles, and redeem from the power of the sword. It is 
plain, therefore, that the sufferings of a nation may be cause 
for thanksgiving to God. 

We are called, to-day, by the "request of the General 
Assembly of this State," and by the proclamation of its Gov- 
ernor, in our houses of worship and in our homes, to render 
thanks to God, and to praise him for his great goodness. To 
some the condition of our country may seem to demand 
humiliation and mourning before God. And the observance 
of a day of Thanksgiving and Praise may appear a grave 
incongruity. 

One year ago we were the "United States." Thirty-three 
Republics were bound together under one government — their 
free choice — and constituted one nation, envied for its pros- 
perity, feared for its power. To-day one-third of these are 
arrayed against the rest in deadly strife. Then the highways 
of travel, and trade, and commerce, were uninterrupted. — 
Now bristling bayonets and blockading squadrons close the 
whole southern part of the country against northmen and 
foreigners. Then fifteen or eighteen thousand soldiers kept 
the peace over the remote frontiers, against a sudden foray of 
savages ; or held the fortifications of the sea-board and saved 
them from dilapidation. Now three-quarters of a million of 
armed men shake the ground with their tread ; fleets thunder 
along the coast, and the roar of cannon echoes among the 
Alleghanies, and dies away in distant peals on the prairies 
towards the sun-setting. Grim war — civU war — belts the 
continent from the mouth of the Potomac to the head-waters 
of the Neosho. Its camp-fires light up the midnight darkness 
— its battle-fields have drunk the blood of the slain — its des- 



olations have turned fruitful regions into barren wastes — its 
hand has checked the wheels of enterprise — its remorseless 
spirit has wrecked great fortunes, and breathed sadness and 
woe into thousands of desolate homes ; and like an insatiate 
fury, it now threatens with mightier conflicts and avalanches 
of sorrow. 

For what, then, should we, to-day, render thanks and praise 
unto Almighty God ? There are many things which are most 
obvious, and suggest themselves to every thoughtful mind. — 
That the fields have yielded an abundant harvest, and our 
granaries are full, while in foreign parts only a scanty crop 
has rewarded the diligent hand of toil ; that wasting sickness 
has not visited our towns, and cities, and cam})s ; that, while 
many departments of business have suffered, the energies of 
the people have very generally been employed in industrial 
pursuits ; that the poor have not been forgotten by the benev- 
olent ; that religious and educational institutions have been 
cheerfully sustained, and their benefits enjoyed as heretofore; 
that, wdien treason and a causeless rebellion struck at the 
integrity and life of the nation, the people of the N^orth, 
animated by patriotic fervor, and emulous of tlie spirit and 
example of the fathers, sprang to their feet and vowed to 
defend the inheritance bequeathed to them ; that, as reverses 
came, and the struggle assumed proportions which at first 
were hardly deemed possible, the patriotism and courage of 
the loyal States rose to a higher pitch, till every discordant 
voice has been hushed, and every hesitation and fear has 
given place to a holy and unalterable purpose to maintain, at 
whatever sacrifice, the power of the Republic over all the 
territory where its starry banner has ever floated, and over all 
waters where its ships have found a port, atid paid no tribute; 
that our relations with foreign powers are peaceful ; and that 
the ravages of war have fallen almost entirely upon those who 
made them a stern necessity ; these are weighty reasons for 
the observance of this time-honored festival throughout the 
loyal States. And to some, or all of these, the proclamations 
appointing it have directed the thoughts of the people. 



8 

The Governor of this State calls upon us to observe the day 
as one of Thanksgiving and Praise to God, "for the inestima- 
ble privileges of our Civil and Religious Institutions, for 
protecting our homes from the ravages of war, and for the 
manifold blessings, individual and social, which surround and 
support us." 

That the blessings which have been mentioned, and others 
of a kindred nature, do cali for gratitude to God — that they 
place us under solemn obligation to bless his name — no one of 
us, I am sure, will for a moment deny. The goodness of God 
in thus loading us with benefits, is most signal. What if he 
had dealt with us in an opposite manner, sending drought 
instead of showers — divisions and apathy into the councils of 
the nation and the hearts of the people — the invasion of our 
States and the desolation of our cities — palsy in every arm of 
business and enterprise, and war from foreign parts ? In the 
experience of such judgments, we should know the magnitude 
of our present mercies. Let us not, then, fail to render thanks 
to him for these manifold alleviations of evils incident to the 
conflict into which we have been forced. In former years, we 
have felt it to be most reasonable that we should praise God 
for the great blessings of plenty, of free institutions, and of 
peace with foreign nations. How much more reasonable is it 
now, when every one of them has a hundred-fold greater 
value by reason of the sacrifices and sufierings to which we are 
subjected through the perfidy and violence of men, whom a 
year ago we called our own brethren ! Therefore, 

Sing aloud unto God our strength : 

Make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. 
Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, 

The pleasant harp, with the psaltery. 
Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, 

In the time appointed, on our solemn feast day. 
For this was a statute for Israel, 

And a law of the God of Jacob. 

Bless the Lord, O my soul, 

And forget not all his benefits ; 
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities. 

Who healeth all thy diseases : 
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction. 

Who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies ; 
Who eatisfieth thy mouth with good things. 
So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's. 



9 

But, brethren, I am persuaded that we have other and 
greater cause for praise to-day. That God has sent aflliction 
upon us, and is trying us as silver is tried ; that the discipline 
of adversity has overtaken this young and yet vigorous nation, 
are grounds for deepest gratitude. "We accept oiu- tiials as a 
national blessing, just as affliction is oftentimes a blessing to 
an individual. 

"Prosperity," saith Lord Bacon, " is the blessing of the 
Old Testament, adversity is the blessing of the N^ew, which 
carrieth the greater benediction, and the clearer revelation of 
God's favor. Prosperity is not without many fears and dis- 
tastes ; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes." 

My object in the remainder of this discourse, will be to show 
that our national trials are cause for thankfulness to God. 

By our trials, I mean such things as the loss of property, 
the derangement of business, the treachery, treason, and 
rebellion of the South, the inability of our wisest statesmen to 
forecast and prevent the civil disorders, the desolating scourge 
of war, and the defeats and losses we have thus far sustained 
in the progress of it. I mean the great evils and sufferings 
which now rest upon the nation, and distinguish its present 
condition from the former of peace and prosperity. But these 
can be regarded as cause of thankfulness to God only as it can 
be ma(ie to appear that they are not sent for our destruction, 
but our reformation. If God has arisen to blot us out of the 
book of nations, then, though our calamities would be the just 
reward of our sins, we should hardly say that they called for 
thanksgiving : Then, too, even the mercies we have spoken 
of, would summon us to such a service, only as the skill of a 
physician does, which prolongs life for a few hours, or makes 
more easy the passage to the grave. 

But if by calamities God intends to convince us of specific 
sins, and work a national reformation in regard of them, and 
then give us a new lease of life, with nobler virtues character- 
izing the nation, with fewer causes tending to its corruption 
and decay, then we ought to thank and praise him for sending 
judgments upon the land. And it is because we think he is 



10 

so working, that we have ventured to speak of our troubles as 
grounds for thankfulness. 

Let us, in the first place, adduce evidence that the 
nation's sufferings are a punishment of its sins. It is impor- 
tant to show this, else will it be impossible to convince any 
that they are designed to work a reformation. 

Notice, therefore, that there is, under the government of 
God, such a relation between actions and their sequences, as 
permits us to speak of the latter as reward or penalty. 

Industry' is followed by increased possessions and means of 
enjoyment. Tiiese are its reward. An indolent man who 
will not sow, finds that his idleness is followed by want. The 
absence of good from which he sufiers, is the penalty of his 
sin. The result is of such a nature as proclaims it to be 
penalty. Truthfulness and honorable dealing gain the esteem 
and confidence of men. The recompense is suited to the 
nature of the virtues. Falsehood and trickery breed distrust 
and contempt. The penalty is suited to the character of the 
offence. 

So, in the evils that have overtaken this nation, there is such 
a relation to causes going before, as shows them to be judg- 
ments that have at last overtaken transgression. 

Look, for example, at the inordinate desire of riches, which 
had become a striking national characteristic. Multitudes 
lived to get rich. They had no higher aim. They did not 
seek wealth that they might use it for the better education and 
culture of themselves or their families, or for the advancement 
of knowledge, or the improvement of society. They saw, 
perhaps, that riches attracted admiration, gave their possessor 
a social position his worth could never command, surrounded 
him with luxuries, and ministered to his appetites. And 
sometimes they were sought as means of gaining these ends. 
But oftener the passion had no distinct aim but that of pro- 
digious accumulation. Men would be rich for riches' sake. 
The sordid and debasing passion expressed itself in many 
forms. Some added to their possessions by a miserly hoard- 
ing of their income. Some increased their wealth by usury. 



11 

Others, despising such slow methods of gain, struck out boldly, 
and plunged into all the excitements of speculation. They 
speculated in land and grains, and gambled in stocks. It can 
easily be seen that this concentration of the mind upon merely 
material acquisitions — this mania for wealth, which was one 
day elated by the rise of stocks, and the next became gloom 
and fear by their slight decline — were hostile to the nobler 
aspirations of the mind, destroyed its peace, and closed it 
against the approaches of that religion which teaches us to lay 
up our treasures, not on earth, but in heaven. Seen in this 
aspect only, the indulgence of the passion for wealth was most 
pernicious. 

But it was often associated with other evils. Wealth 
brought extravagance and luxury into social life. The sim- 
plicity of manners which marks the period of a nation's growth, 
was fast giving way to that efieminacy and corruption which 
characterize its decline. Festive enjoyments were more prized 
than manly pursuits. The wine-cup and the viol were in the 
feasts. Moral principle yielded to the fascination of riches. — 
A heavy purse would outweigh the most positive merits of 
character. The libertine, if rich, found too easy access to 
virtuous families. Marriage was prostituted to the ambition 
of setting out in life with a splendid establishment. The 
desire to live as only the rich can, barred persons of limited 
means from the virtuous joys of an humble home, and tempted 
them with the forms of forbidden pleasures. 

Moreover, the evil had crept into the Church. Men once 
distinguished for the simplicity of their living and for their 
piety and benevolence, were yielding to the downward ten- 
dency. The absorption of their resources in supporting an 
expensive style of life, crippled their ability to meet the 
demands of charity and the calls of God's providence in the 
field of missions. The whole Church was in danger of be- 
coming fatally secularized. 

Notice, further, that this greed of wealth had corrupted the 
fountains of law and of justice. Men who had some great 
scheme of pecuniary advantage to promote, were not satisfied 



12 

to present their cause to Legislatures and to Congress, and let 
the issue be determined by the merits of it. They resorted to 
lobbying ; and measures passed which were demanded by no 
interests of the public, and never could have been enacted, had 
they been connected with no promise of profit to the men who 
gave them their votes. 

It would consume too much of our time to follow, further, 
the workings of the cause which was thus destroying the vir- 
tue, strength, and life of the nation. Riches were an idol. 
Foreigners reproached us with our mercenary spirit. We, 
ourselves, laughed over the achievements of the "-Almighty 
dollar," much as Nero fiddled while Rome was burning. 

But nothing is plainer than that this, our sin, has now its 
penalty. God first sent a whirlwind over the land, and for- 
tunes were prostrated everywhere. The desolations of '57 
will not soon be forgotten. But the lesson was not heeded. 
Men said, These convulsions have a law of periodic return : 
we shall go on smoothly, now, for twenty years. So they 
gathered up the wrecks and spread their sails again. Yet, 
now what do we see ? They who but yesterday counted their 
wealth by hundreds of thousands, are reduced to poverty. 
Riches take wings and fly away. This war would never have 
come upon us, had not the interests of trade protested against 
a lawful resistance to slavery. No one of us can forget what 
scorn was heaped upon those who resisted the passage of the 
Compromise Measures of 1854. The Northern marts of trade 
cried peace ! and we had peace. But what has been gained 
by the temporizing policy? The men who then most favored 
it, and for Southern trade, are bankrupts to-day. And the 
fortunes of the nation are drawn into the gulf of a war initi- 
ated by the friends of the institution, which it was, for a time, 
almost commercial suicide to speak against ; and the reward 
of the men of peace from those whose cause they then pleaded, 
is the repudiation of every debt, and the confiscation of their 
property. Do not these things show our guilt, and the judg- 
ment of God ao;ainst it ? 



13 

Turning from this topic, let us glance at the pride and 
arrogance of the nation. 

In the achievements of the War of Independence — in the 
naval victories of 1812 — in the conquest of feeble Mexico, we 
found occasions for boasting of our prowess. We thought that 
an army of volunteers could at any time fope with the best 
disciplined troops of any great European power. Too power- 
ful to be successfully assailed on the land, supplying the 
manufactories of England with cotton, and exporting immense 
quantities of grain and flour for the crowded populations of 
that country and of France, we began to think ourselves quite 
above the reach of the calamities which have overtaken other 
nations. How boastful of our vast territories and inexhaustible 
resources ! of the spirit of the people and their power to carry 
the flag in triumph wherever they willed ! But now we have 
ceased to boast. Our pride has been brought low. We have 
the national spirit which offers men, in vast numbers, and 
means adequate to the public exigencies. But where are the 
splendid victories and the swift successes, that reflect honor 
upon the profession of arms ? Where is the generalship in 
which we gloried at the outset of the war ? We have sufiered 
so many reverses, that our pride is humbled ; while just 
enough has been gained to keep alive the nation's confidence, 
that in God's good time we shall vanquish the enemy, and 
re-establish the nation's integrity. Is there not, in such 
discipline, evidence that God has rewarded us according to 
our deeds. 

Look, further, at the penalty which has followed the abuse 
of a " free press." The license of the press, and the judgments 
that have followed upon the track of its transgressions — in the 
forced silence of the worst sinners, and the crippled condition 
of others, were vigorously presented to us on occasion of the 
late National Fast. What I wish to call attention to, is the 
calamity which has overtaken the nation itself, through the 
prostitution of the press to base personal and party ends. Party 
papers vied with party demagogues in vilifying the conscien- 
tious anti-slavery convictions of the Korth, and in encouraging 



14 

the desperate leaders of public opinion at the South, confidently 
to expect that any concessions would be granted, if the threaten- 
ed alternative were secession and war. We tolerated such press- 
es — ^gave the conductors of them large subscription lists, and 
augmented their powers to work the ruin of the nation. And 
the result is, that we are suffering the miseries of civil war, 
which never would have been, had the men who controlled 
them been true to the principles of freedom, and labored for 
the triumph of justice rather than the increase of their gains, 
the success of a party, and a treacherous peace for the sake of 
trade. How manifestly has God brought judgments upon the 
people for sustaining such presses in their selfish, unpatriotic 
and wicked work ! Who does not see that in this line, also, 
penalty has overtaken the transgressors ? 

In these remarks upon the press, I have alluded to the 
complicity of demagogues in misrepresenting the sentiments of 
the North, and in fostering the treasonable designs of Southern 
leaders. And this may introduce a brief reference to the 
character of the men who have been elected to rule over us. 
I am not, of course, to be understood as uttering wholesale 
denunciations. There have been many true men elected to the 
places where laws are made and executed. But no one 
familiar with the elections and legislation of the last quarter 
of a century, will deny that often the basest men have been 
chosen to represent the people. The qualifications of a good 
party man out-weighed those of a good patriot. The question 
to be answered at the primary elections and in the conventions, 
was not, " Is he faithful, capable and honest"? but, ".will he 
run well " ? The best men of any party could not be elected. 
At length a fatal apathy took possession of the large and 
influential class of Christian men, and men of sound moral 
principles. They staid away from the primary elections ; 
they either neglected to vote at all, or theychose between rival 
candidates in obedience to the maxim, "out of two evils choose 
the least." The result could be only what it has been — the 
election of law-makers and magistrates, who, as a body, sought 
not so much the public weal as their own ambitious ends, the 



15 

success of party measures, and a participation in " the spoils." 
Such men, elected to represent Northern constituents, were 
not fitted to withstand the arts, and far-reaching measures, 
and threatening bearing of the " lords of the plantation " 
Power passed into Southern hands, and was wielded for the 
triumph of Southern slavery. The legislation of the country 
proves incontestably that such has been the result of our 
neglect, or abuse of the elective franchise. Had we been 
true to our traditional principles, and sent men to Congress 
and to the State Legislatures, who were honest, patriotic, 
unswerving in their devotion to justice, and inflexibly opposed 
to the principle and system of human bondage, we should 
never have come into out present straits. This war is the 
result of our time-serving spirit, and our compromising with 
the gigantic wi-ong. We see now in the light of this rebellion 
— ^in the long history of violated oaths, secret plottings, disper- 
sion of the army and navy, and robbery of the arsenals and 
navy yards, that preceded the attack on Sumpter — in the 
facility with which almost every slave State has been drawn 
into the strife against the government — and in the vast armies 
which have been gathered to destroy the Union, because it 
could no longer be made the tool of the slave power — we see, 
in these things, the inherent vice of that atrocious system 
before which we have all cringed, and to whose haughty 
demands our chosen rulers have yielded, till it had become 
almost a national institution, and had coiled its huge folds 
around the Republic and well nigh crushed out its life. This 
war, therefore, is God's commentary upon the criminal manner 
in which we have administered the affairs of the nation, 
through the men we have chosen to represent our principles 
and will, in the seats of power. 

But all the sins that have now been mentioned, yield in 
magnitude and guilt, to that of holding in bondage four mil- 
lions of men, who have the same right to freedom, to the 
sacred institution of the family, and to the word of God, as 
ourselves. Every one of them also strikes its roots into this, 
and draws fresh life from it. I shall not enter upon a discus- 



16 

slon of the sin of the nation, in upholding the slavery of the 
South. It can be Seen in the laws of Congress, in the 
decisions of the Supreme Court, in Cabinet cabals, in the 
resolutions of national party conventions, in the revival of the 
slave trade, in the judgments of Commissioners' Courts, in the 
wrongs of Kansas, in the establishment of the Missouri Com- 
promise, in the annulling of that Compromise, in the infamous 
provisions of the Fugitive Slave Bill, in the augmented area 
of slavery, in the war with Mexico, and in the nameless wrongs 
heaped upon the enslaved race at the hands of cruel masters, 
and under the operation of State laws for the regulation of the 
system. 

The sin has been portrayed by men better able to do the 
work than I am. The only point I need to dwell upon, is, the 
retribution which has at last overtaken us. This war is on 
account of slavery — would never have occurred but for the 
determination of the slave-holders to extend its limits, and 
give it a new lease of power, as the base and corner-stone of a 
new political structure. The nation is reaping as it has sown. 
God is smiting us in the very part we had done most to 
strengthen. The judgment is unmistakable. We need no 
Daniel to interpret mystic characters, and tell us that the 
Medes and Persians are thundering at our gates, because we 
have built the throne of empire upon the unrequited toils 
and unavenged wrongs, the tears and blood, of our brethren. 
Let us leave this subject where our experience is fast leading 
us to place it. Let the teachings of God's providence strike 
the heart of the nation with a deeper conviction that we have 
sinned in this thing, and that there is no way of safety for us, 
but in undoing the heavy burdens and letting the oppressed 
go free. 

I would that the enumeration of our sins, and their penal- 
alties, could stop here. But there is one more offence which it 
would be wrong to pass by. It is the one that fitly closes the 
long list. Having discrowned man, and made of him a thing 
to be bought and sold, like any other article of merchandize, 
we might well be expected to dethrone God, and exalt nature, 



17 

and institutions, and Congressional enactments, into the place 
of supreme beneficence and authority. 

We charge that a practical Atheism was fast settling down 
upon the nation. Its power to blunt the moral sensibilities, to 
war upon divine institutions, and to substitute the operation of 
second causes in place of the will of the Deity, was already felt 
in the growing laxness of public and private morals, in an utter 
disregard of the rights of the slave, in the violation of the Sab- 
bath, in tracing all our blessings to the influence of soil and 
climate — of the constitution and the peculiar structure of our 
political system, to our blood and the genius of our people, in 
the absence of all recognition of God in the charter of our liber- 
ties and rights, and in the profane contempt with which our 
legislators and the majority of our political leaders and presses, 
treated the doctrine, that the subject has the right of appeal 
from the enactments of the Senate to the statutes of the 
Supreme Ruler. 

Nothing could have broken up this Atheism, and opened the 
eyes of men to see its folly and wickedness, as this war, with 
its vicissitudes, has done. God has come forth from his place 
of silence, and has made his voice to be heard. He has shat- 
tered our confidences — taught us that our institutions have no 
stability unless he wills it — demonstrated that a common blood 
and a common domain are not proof against severance and 
fratricidal strife — shown us that neither our honor nor our lib- 
erties are safe by reason of the abundance of our resources, or 
the multitude of an host — thundered on the track of our flee- 
ing armies, avenging the contempt of his laws by the shame 
and losses of Sabbath-day defeats — called forth an authoritative 
observance of his holy day from the Commander-in-Chief of 
all our forces — convinced the nation, against their will, of his 
displeasure at their persistent disregard of the bondmen in the 
land — and bowed the rulers and people with one accord before 
him, confessing their sins, acknowleding the justice of their 
sufferings and their dependence on him for success, and hum- 
bly beseeching him to lift his heavy judgments, and cause his 
face to shine again. Thus has he punished the nation's 
Atheism, and asserted his Supremacy. 



18 

But it may uow be asked, What has all this showing 
forth of our sins, and the divine retribution of them, to do 
with our rendering thanks and praise unto God ? I an- 
swer that this revelation of God, in rebuke and chastisement, 
was necessary to the reformation and safety of the nation. I 
believe, that, had we been permitted to go on as we were going, 
the day would not have been distant when reformation would 
have been impossible, and the nation would have sunk into 
a premature decrepitude, and perished under the weight of its 
vices and the just judgments of heaven. Look at Spain. See 
where she was three centuries ago — her possessions in almost 
every quarter of the globe — wealth flowing in upon her from 
fertile territories, and mines of silver and gold — her fleets 
proudly holding the empire of the sea. But where is she 
to-day ? Stripped of her territorial possessions — with an im- 
poverished treasury — a third-rate European power — feebly 
striving to maintain her honor by an armed expedition against 
the distracted laud that Cortez vanquished. Read the history 
of her imperial greatness. How arrogant she was ! How 
luxurious ! How oppressive ! How heedless of God's author- 
ity ! "What should have prevented us from doing as she did, 
and coming to as ignoble an end ? And under a government 
like ours, the progress of national decay and ruin would have 
been much more rapid. 

But God has mercifully interposed, under the operation of 
moral laws, to stay the downward progress, open our eyes to 
our dangers, give us an opportunity to return to a purer life, 
and prolong our existence for the accomplishment of ends 
connected with our honor and happiness, the establishment of 
free institutions on a firmer foundation, and the advancement 
of his kingdom and glory in the world. 

Is it asked by what evidence this belief is justified ? The 
answer, in a general way, is, that the discipline of God has 
been of such a nature as justifies it ; and the results thus far 
gained, justify it. 

Let any thoughtful person go back over an interval of one 
year, and note the condition in which we were, and trace the 



19 

progress of events, step by step, down to this time, and I think 
he will be unable to resist the conviction that a divine pre- 
sence has directed onr march, and a divine power has been 
conducting us thi'ough the wilderness in the direction of the 
promised land. Then the people of the Free States had 
elected a man to the highest office in their gift, and mildly 
hinted a possible change in the relation of the government 
to the extension of Slavery. But this event had been foreseen. 
The robbers in power had shaped their course in anticipation 
of it ; and from that time forward, through the brief lease of 
power that yet remained to them, they ])lied their hellish 
enginery to overthrow the government that had conferred upon 
them all their honors, and upon their constituents, all their 
prosperity. That was a period of long and painful suspense. 
The evidences of treason multiplied ; yet the nation lived on in 
the fond persuasion that the conspirators would stop far short 
of actual treason. Another has well expressed the condition 
of things at that time. " We saw the Union going upon the 
rocks, piloted by a perjured band of wreckers ; we saw them 
tearing down the old flag and spitting upon it in disdain ; we 
heard them, as they betook themselves to the boats, and 
hastened away to their confederates, shouting in derision that 
the gallant ship which our fathers built to sail on forever, was 
scuttled past help, and would never again ride the ocean wave; 
we saw and heard all this. Yet the world moved on as afore- 
time; no sign in the heavens betokened that the avenging 
thunderbolts were about to descend ; the triumph of mingled 
treachery and imbecility appeared complete." 

We cannot enter minutely into the events which followed 
upon the departure of the president-elect to the seat of govern- 
ment. But there is enough in them all to reveal the hand of 
that God who watched over the infancy of the nation, and 
crowned the sacrifices of our fathers with his blessing. The 
simple utterance of an honest man, oppressed by the weight of 
affairs, asking old friends and neighbors to pray for him, 
struck a chord in the nation's heart unused to vibrate on the 
departure of presidents to the Capital. That request was 



20 

answered bj' prayers over all the Free States. There wae 
more of meaning in it than even he who made it dreamed of. 
God began to make himself known as the Guide and Savior of 
the nation in its perils. From that time we see his wondrous 
presence directing the host. Had not the progress of the 
President-elect been marked by such singular expressions of 
of the confidence reposed in him, he would not have known 
how strong was the purpose to sustain every just act he might 
have to perform. Had not his Inaugural been marked by so 
much forbearance, firmness and slumbering energy, we should 
have feared for the result of his official acts. Had a bold and 
threatening policy towards the misguided men of the South 
been adopted at the very outset of his administration — had 
almost any other purpose been revealed, even at the time 
when the few brave men in Sumpter were threatened with 
starvation, than the simple one of relieving their necessities 
— had the first gun been fired by the administration — had not 
the call for 75,000 volunteers followed immediately upon the 
assault on that fortress and its starry flag — it may be regarded 
as certain, that no such unanimity of the Nortli would have 
been seen as has been. And if the North had been divided — 
if from all parts, and all ranks, there had not been the response 
of patriotic devotion in sending tens of thousands to the field, 
until now the embattled hosts of freedom are not less than 
half a million, while as many more are willing to follow if they 
are needed — ^if there had not been consummate ability at the 
head of the Treasury Department — if the banks of the great 
cities, and the subscriptions of the people had not promptly 
met the loan-call — if a man had not been found, who, sum- 
moned from peaceful pursuits, was judged a worthy successor 
of the military chief, whose age forbade the endurance of the 
labors of an active campaign, but whose latest act of devotion 
to his country, in the hour of her greatest extremity, will be a 
brighter crown and a greater honor than all his victories, — ^if 
any one of these things had not been, the cause of the Republic 
might have been lost. Is it possible for us to look on all these 
grave contingencies, and see how the country has passed 



21 

through them, and now faces her foes with a firmer purpose 
than ever to prosecute the war till freedom is victorious, and 
not recognize the good hand of God in them ? the ordering of 
a wisdom and power far above that of our wisest statesmen ? 
And even our reverses have been full of instruction and 
profit. Xot one of them has failed to do us good, and none 
has been of so signal service as that in which God is most 
clearly revealed, rebuking our pride and boastings, scattering 
our strength with a breath, and avenging the dishonor put upon 
his law. In thus surveying the dealings of God with us, do 
we not find evidence that, while he is punishing us for om* 
sins, he is also seeking our reformation? If he had purposed 
our overthrow, would he have dealt with us after this manner ? 
The mercies to which allusion was made in the early part of 
the discourse, are seen to be but part of that comprehensive 
discipline, which is designed to work repentence unto national 
life. We have a priceless opportunity to gain an immortality 
of existence — to place ourselves where, by subsequent right 
doing, we shall secure the divine benediction, and continue so 
long as nations are permitted to live. Let us pray that the 
reformation already well begun may be complete. Let us 
learn to account riches but " the baggage of virtue: for as the 
baggage is to an army, so is riches to virtue ; it can not be 
spared, nor left behind, but it hindereth the march." Let us 
think of ourselves more justly than heretofore, and bear our- 
selves less proudl3\ Let us forswear the bonds of party, and 
refuse to vote for men of selfish and mercenary spirit, who 
contemn the restraints of morality, or treat lightly the sacred 
obligations of the Christian religion — by whatever plea their 
election may be urged. Not until good men, and true, deter- 
mine to vote for none but honest and God-fearing persons, will 
the politics of the country be delivered from their enslavement 
to the decrees of mere politicians and demagogues. Never 
was there a time more favorable than the present for such a 
reformation. The country now demands honest men in the 
places of power. There wUl be no indulgence shown to low 
ambition, or trickery, in the management of public afiairs. A 



22 

faithful servant of the people will earn their lasting gratitude, 
and gain to himself worthy honors ; but he who is found un- 
faithful, will be consigned to an infamy from which there will 
be no resurrection. 

Finally, let the nation now render unto God the honor due 
to his name ; extol him as the source of their blessings, and do 
that which his word and providence shall teach they ought to 
do for the bondmen. In the disposition of this problem of 
slavery, as it shall be afiected by the developments of the war, 
all should ask that God will guide aright both the rulers 
and the people. What he intends to do for the wronged 
African race in bondage, we do not know. Of one thing, we 
may be sure. If we can ascertain what his will is, we shall 
be safe only in obeying it. K it be that they go free, then let 
the word of emancipation be spoken. We need not fear the 
evils that might follow. They could not be so great as that of 
proving false to his behest. 

Certainly we cannot plead constitutional obligations, as a 
reason for sparing the system which has precipitated the war 
upon us. So far as the disloyal States are concerned, we are 
released from them. What is wisest and best — what we ought 
to do, is the only question that should be agitated. May God 
throw light upon it, as he has upon other questions, and give us 
courage to work the reformation he demands. 

I might allude to some other results of this war, which are 
cause for thankfulness — as the closer fellowship of the Free 
States, the establishment of the principle of unity and nation- 
ality among them^ however the war may terminate as to our 
relations to the South — the noble, unselfish sympathy, which 
has been drawn forth for the soldiers in camp and hospital, and 
the benevolent labors of individuals and Soldiers' Aid Soci- 
eties, of which none deserves more honorable mention than 
that which reflects credit upon this city — the sturdy virtues of 
endurance and courage, which will be developed — the extirpa- 
tion of that wi'etched e£feminacy and luxury, which were 
destroying our manhood and our life. These are incidental 
blessings, which we shall hereafter be grateful for. 



23 

But, while I have thus souglit to show, that our evils are 
of such a nature as call for Thanksgiving and Praise, they 
are evils still. They are better for us than a base prosperity, 
founded upon injustice and a disregard of divine law. But 
there is a national estate far better than either these evils, or 
that prosperity. In the pathway of honor, justice, truth, 
benevolence and the fear of God, wo shall both escape the 
evils, and attain the safest prosperity. 

Therefore, while we thank God to-day for sending chastise- 
ment, let us pray, that, when it shall have done its needed 
work, he will bring back again the days of peace, and build 
our waste places. It is a grievous thing that such severe 
measures only could save us ; that thousands must fall on the 
field of battle, and die in the camp, far from home, with no 
kind friend to speak words of consolation, and wipe the death- 
damp from the brow, and point the soul to the regions of 
eternal peace. It is a grievous thing that so many homes 
must be desolated, so many waives be widowed, so many chil- 
dren made orphans, so many parents caused to weep over the 
death of a gallant sou. This is not cause of thanksgiving. — 
This is all sadness and woe. Yet this is the bitter penalty of 
our sins, and the price of our redemption. Though we humble 
ourselves, yet cannot these ills be wholly averted. But if we 
speedily take our right position, they may be greatly mitigated. 
We will thank God that, in the midst of our sorrows, there is 
left the happiness of reflecting upon the patriotism of those to 
whom is given " the privilege of living unselfishly and of dying 
nobly in a grand and righteous cause ; and for the precious and 
rare possession of so much devoted and manly heroism." "We 
will thank him, also, that to us is given the privilege of honor- 
ing the names of those who fall, and of transmitting them, with 
the iidieritance purchased by their blood, to our childi-eu and 
children's children. 

The time will come, when we shall look back upon these 
scenes and times, and bless God that he did not abandon us to 
sloth and ruin. We shall reprobate the arrogance and stifiness- 
of-neck, which marked our youth, and glory in the possession 



24 

of manly grace, and strength, and honor. That God is prepar- 
ing this young nation for a worthy future, we firml}' believe. — 
" Therefore we glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation 
worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience 
hope, and hope maketh not ashamed." 



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